Henry Blundell

Henry Blundell (1724-1810) owned the estate at Ince Blundell in Lancashire. He was also a practicing Catholic and well known as an art collector, especially paintings and sculpture, ancient & modern. Henry Blundell, like many Catholic gentry in the 18th century, was educated abroad on the European continent (in present day Belgium and France) and was in Paris in the ?1760s. He was an acquaintance and friend of William Roscoe (1753-1831), who helped appoint Henry as President of the Liverpool Academy, despite them having opposing views on the abolition of the slave trade, Henry being against. They both, however, shared the same views in favour of the political emancipation of Roman Catholics in Britain. Henry had a difficult relationship with his only son, Charles Robert, from whom he became estranged. After Henry's death Charles had to fight a lengthy Chancery court case with his two sisters to retain the collection, which was only decided in his favour in the 1840s, after his death.